₦airaland Forum

No way that troll has been running riots here while I was away

Kenyanlady what's your angle? Since you are evidently non SomalI, why are you agreeing with Axum?

adamskutty: lol! They are some games u just cant watch once and forget about.

E.g. [b]The germans destruction of brazil [/b]or the dutch mauling of the spanish

True and I had to rewatch that the other night after we lost to Argentina on home soil lol

A reclusive figure with a love of poetry, Ahmed Abdi Godane became a feared jihadist, running assassination and bomb squads in Somalia.

The Pentagon says he was killed in an air strike on 1 September.

He rose to the helm of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group in 2008 after a US air strike killed his predecessor Aden Hashi Ayro in a remote village in southern Somalia.

Also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, Godane's ascent to power surprised some observers as he came from the breakaway northern region of Somaliland.

"His rise to power within al-Shabab is unparalleled and in many ways counterintuitive in the history of Somalia's political and military formations," Rashid Abdi, an East Africa analyst who specialises on al-Shabab, told the BBC.

"How did someone with no clan constituency in southern Somalia accumulate such powers and manage to command such following in a tribal country where clan loyalties and affiliation trump everything else?"

The answer probably lies in the fact that Godane was free of the clan rivalries which dominate southern Somalia, putting him in an ideal position to unite young Somalis under the banner of a hard-line Islamic ideology.

'Ex-accountant'

"He became Emir [an Arabic word for leader] of al-Shabab, a title that conferred him great spiritual clout. He became in effect the chief ideologue, custodian and interpreter of the 'pure' Salafi jihadi doctrine," Mr Abdi said.

The BBC Somali service's Mohammed Mohammed says Godane is fluent in Somali and Arabic, and has a reputation of being a fine orator and poet.

"When he talks, he uses poetry. One of his favourite poets is Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, dubbed the 'Mad Mullah' in the West but a big hero for Somalis because he fought against British colonial rule," he says.

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Ahmed Abdi Godane at a glance:

-US put $7m (£4m) bounty on his head in 2012

-Pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2009

-Became al-Shabab's top commander after US air strike killed his predecessor Aden Hashi Ayro in 2008

-Sentenced to death in absentia for 2008 attack in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa

-Studied in Sudan and Pakistan, where he became radicalised

-Said to have fought in Afghanistan

-Reputed to be a good orator and poet

-Also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair

Mr Abdi said that before Godane became a full-time jihadi, he worked as an accountant for a money transfer agency, gaining experience that would "serve him well" in later years.

It allowed him to use his insider knowledge of the-then nascent hawala system - a traditional form of Islamic banking which relies heavily on trust between individuals - "to channel money speedily and discreetly to the movement", he said.

Godane's exact date of birth is not known, but some reports say he was born in 1977 and had a difficult childhood - he is said to have spent time at an orphanage and his uncle was reportedly an alcoholic.

Nevertheless, he was bright and won scholarships to study Islam in Sudan and Pakistan, where he was heavily influenced by jihadi ideology in the 1990s.

From there, he is suspected to have crossed the border to Afghanistan to receive military training from al-Qaeda.

'Sword of Allah'

Godane first gained notoriety in 2008, when he was sentenced to death in absentia for the simultaneous bombing of the United Nations (UN) compound and Ethiopian embassy in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa.

"He had been arrested prior to that, but released. The authorities did not know how dangerous he was," Mr Mohammed says.

"He is very focused on Islamic issues, and is said to have a good relationship with the top leadership of al-Qaeda. He featured in video tapes with al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and all finances are said to have come through him."

Godane led al-Shabab into a formal alliance with al-Qaeda in 2009, changing its focus from a purely local jihad to a regional one.

In 2010, it killed 78 people watching the football World Cup in Uganda's capital, Kampala - the first bombing by al-Shabab outside Somalia.

Last year, at least 67 people were killed when al-Shabab fighters took control of the upmarket Westgate shopping centre in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, for four days.

"I have been sent ahead of the hour with the sword so that Allah will be worshipped alone without partners," Godane said, in a video praising the Westgate attack.

Mr Abdi says Godane proved to be ruthless within al-Shabab as well, ordering his "Amniyat" assassination squad to kill his critics - including US jihadi Omar Hammami, known as al-Amriki, and his one-time mentor and friend Ibrahim al-Afghani.

Godane carried out the purge last year after the disgruntled al-Shabab members wrote to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, accusing him of being autocratic.

"[Godane] takes decisions in a secret fashion without legitimate known reasons," they wrote.

'Rattled'

The purge helped him strengthen his grip over al-Shabab, but it meant that he had also created many enemies in jihadi ranks.

Some of them may have turned into spies for the US, opening the way for the air strike which targeted his convoy in the Lower Shabelle region on 1 September 2014.

The US had put a $7m (£4m) bounty on his head in 2012, giving his enemies further incentive to collaborate with the US in efforts to hunt him down.

Somalia analyst Abdi Aynte said it was difficult to imagine al-Shabab remaining cohesive without his leadership.

"If confirmed, the death of Ahmed Godane could deal a major blow to al-Shabab and could be the beginning of the end," he said on his Twitter account.

"The irony is that Godane killed the would-be obvious successor, Ibrahim al-Afghani, in a major internal rift last year," he added.

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29034409

Good riddance

TerryCarr: Ethiopian Jews are no different from the "european" Jews.

Falasha and Ashkenazi Jews share very few similarities. Falasha Jews are much older and purer than the Ashkenazi's.

Idrismusty97: Germany is a worthy ally, If care is not taken the West will lose Germany to Russian. After all the German chancellor speak Russian fluently and the Russia President speaks German fluently. The relationship between these two nations is growing by the day. They have a lot of companies operating in Russia and buys much of Russia gas. Germany is shouldering the most burden from all these back and forth sanctions thrown by Europe and Russia. In the near future i sense that they would ditch EU and America for a stroger relationship with Russia.

Spot on! But incase of a WWIII, Germany won't pick sides. It is not in their best interest to choose between the US/EU and Russia when 55% of their energy comes from Gazprom. The US- German relationship was severed when the German BND found out that they're being spied on and frau Merkel let the US know that you do not spy on your friends.

axum: I hacked this b!tch

You don't possess the brain capacity to do such a thing

Can't help you here but why would you want to download a game from the past?

adamskutty: remember how sad and down u were when he left?
I know u are super super happy, lol!
Yusuf isn't that popular in here so I wonder who will want to impersonate him and I don't think the comedian of the culture section will go to such extent

I feel loved

@E-Soul don't worry I'll put him straight again

@ Adam thanks bro and likewise.

EnlightenedSoul: Nah, no party haha. I'm glad he's back, but he didn't even bother to say goodbye lol!
Besides, how are you so sure?

Why not, let's throw a party right here, right now!
I was actually gonna say goodbye but you had trouble with your email so I thought I could slip away unnoticed for a few months

And stop it, you know it's me

EnlightenedSoul: Gr8 now I have to ask lol.
Alright alright, I'll rest my case I've been good tho wallahi. How're you?

Idk, you just seem like one lol don't ask how

Wallahi I'm good too walal

adamskutty: could this be mallam yusuf12 ?

Yes it is me. I hope you are well my friend

Fulaman198: I'm not too sure why you are banned. I think it is a security measure.

True, I guess it's for all those ad-bots.

EnlightenedSoul: Blasphemy!
That was no damn interrogation And you're not off the spot just yet so you know

I would have bet money on you being more of a basketball fan than an American football fan, don't ask why.

I think I'll have to call my attorney for the remainder of this conversation
How have you been though?

EnlightenedSoul: Yh, I suppose you could say that. I don't think it can ever take the place of American Football in our hearts tho

Walaal, you don't have to prove a thing. I'm just a born skeptic. I get you, I can be a bit of a procrastinator myself sometimes too lol

hand-oval-shaped-ball* that's what it should be called

I'm glad the interrogation is over lol. I don't want to add to your suspicion but I'm banned from most of the sub forums for a week perhaps Fulaman can tell me why.

yusufogrin: If we go to bed at nite with 9 meatz in d pot.....d next mornin......e remain 4......we set cctv camera for kitchen...still nobody dey reach d pot afta watching d video d next morning........nd meat still dey miss........how science wan produce ansa to dat one?

Looool wtf!

EnlightenedSoul: Lol stop bragging! I gotta say I was impressed with Holland too.

Yh, NL crashed. Something like six months of data was lost, and it reset everyone's account to January. Your account might've actually undeactivated.

The Dutch always disappoint in the later stages, they went all the way to the final and lost it four years ago but I hear people ditched American football went world cup mad in your country which is good.

So the hackers only wanted to delete NL history that's weird and no wonder why my account is still active, I noticed after I made this one but I can't recover it. I changed the password to gibberish then deactivated it plus I can't recover the email I signed up with either. Did all of that so I wouldn't sign in and waste time lol. Life of a procrastinator

And there were 5 German-American players in the US team. What can I say, Germans bring excellence everywhere

EnlightenedSoul: Omg, what happened to you? NL was hacked.

Nothing happened, I just unplugged from all social networking sites for a few months because I had to take care of a few things.

What do you mean by NL was hacked?

EnlightenedSoul: Yes I realize you wouldn't be able to recover your old account, but the guy could just as easily be pretending to be you right now. He's like that, ya know lol.

Lmao what the hell happened while I was away? Trust me Mey... it is me Artan

EnlightenedSoul: Wow! I hate to say this, but I think you're quite possibly Axum. I hope I'm wrong. Is it really you??

Lol I'm not that xoolo. I couldn't recover my old account so I made a new one.

Fulaman198: Doing well, welcome back Yusuf.

Thanks bro. Just call me Artan, Yousuf12 is forever gone.

I know it's a bit late but WE WON

Come at us brah!

https://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/sports/20140714/germany-world-cup-champs-2014.jpg

Salaam Fulaman & E-Soul, how are you guys?